Visual Materials

Collection of California and Southern California Panoramic Negatives

Description

The Verner Collection contains 239 panoramic negatives depicting Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Big Bear, Palm Springs, Huntington Beach, Culver City, Pasadena, and other southern California communities, taken by some of the leading photographic studios of the era. The collection depicts a significant era in regional growth, capturing the public spaces, real estate and commercial development, civic and group gatherings, industrial and manufacturing interests, and the recreational sites and activities of the period. Of particular note are C.C. Pierce's views of downtown Los Angeles, taken in 1902; Pierce's views of Hollywood and Santa Monica; K.P. Ramsey's photographs of military personnel, dating from 1910; Pierce's and Pettit's Studio's views of the development of Westwood Village and the University of California, Los Angeles, dating from the 1930s; Pierce's views of Beverly Hills and Catalina; Pierce's, Pettit's Studio's and Aerograph's 1920s photographs of Long Beach and oil fields and derricks in Signal Hill and Culver City; F.M. Huddleston's images of airports in Alhambra, Burbank, Culver City, and Los Angeles from 1930; and Aerograph's views of the Rose Bowl football games from the mid-1920s. This collection of negatives was purchased from Los Angeles resident Jack Verner. The negatives had originally been received by Verner's mother from an unknown source.

Of special interest in the 127 negatives in the Parker Collection are the many images of the Huntington Hotel (numbers 40001-40003), Lake Tahoe and Tahoe Tavern (numbers 40010, 40029, 40030, 40031, 40036, 40037, 40038, 40041, 40060, 40061, 40075, 40109, and 40121), the Colorado Street bridge in Pasadena (numbers 40004, 40015, 40033, 40045, 40089, and 40116), Pasadena residences (including the St. Francis bungalow court) (numbers 40016, 40051, 40052, 40054, 40057, 40058, 40064, 40090, 40114, 40120, 40120a, and 40122), Lake Elsinore in Riverside County (numbers 40080a-f), and the Rose Bowl (40071, 40074, 40079, 40098a-c, and 40105).

The Whittington Collection's 70 negatives contains a number of images of undeveloped and newly developed areas of Los Angeles, including Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica, and Alhambra, views of Lido Isle in Newport, and Republic Studios in Studio City.

Collection of California and Southern California Panoramic Negatives, (bulk 1920s-1930s)

Visual Materials

This finding aid brings together information about the Huntington's collections of panoramic negatives. These 436 negatives are located in three separate collections: the Verner Collection of Panoramic Negatives, the Harold A. Parker Collection of Photographs and Negatives, and the "Dick" Whittington Studio Collection of Photographs and Negatives. They depict Los Angeles and surrounding areas, and group portraits, 1889-1958. The Verner Collection includes images taken by some of the leading photographic studios of the era and depicts a significant era in regional growth, capturing the public spaces, real estate and commercial development, civic and group gatherings, industrial and manufacturing interests, and the recreational sites and activities of the period. These include downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Catalina, Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Big Bear and Palm Springs; military personnel in Anaheim; the development of Westwood Village and the University of California, Los Angeles; oil fields and derricks in Signal Hill and Culver City; airports in Alhambra, Burbank, Culver City, and Los Angeles; and views of the Rose Bowl and Rose Bowl football games. Of special interest in the Parker Collection are the many images of the Huntington Hotel, Lake Tahoe and Tahoe Tavern, the Colorado Street bridge in Pasadena, Pasadena residences (including the St. Francis bungalow court and the Blacker House, designed by Greene & Greene), Lake Elsinore in Riverside County, and the Rose Bowl. The Whittington Collection's 70 negatives contain a number of images of undeveloped and newly developed areas of Los Angeles, including Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica, and Alhambra, views of Lido Isle in Newport, and Republic Studios in Studio City.

photCL 470, photCL 402, photCL Whitt

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Panoramic negatives

Visual Materials

The collection consists of 70 panoramic negatives, 3207 copy prints, and corresponding negatives and interpositives, covering the years 1924-1948. The images depict specific places, businesses, and commercial activity in both central and southern California, with the emphasis on Los Angeles County. The collection provides a broad overview of the commercial landscape of the area during the first half of the twentieth century. In addition, there is also a tape measure produced by the studio in the 1950s. The 70 panoramic negatives depict undeveloped and newly developed areas of Los Angeles, including Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica, and Alhambra, views of Lido Isle in Newport, and Republic Studios in Studio City. There are also images of Los Angeles industries, including film and automotive, as well as specific locations, such as the Hollywood Bowl, and events, such as swimming events during the 1932 Olympics. The first part of the collection of copy prints depicts specific towns, businesses, street scenes and landscapes in central and southern California, specifically El Dorado, Inyo, and Nevada Counties, Lake Tahoe, Kern, Tulare, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Imperial Counties, Mexico, and Los Angeles County. The bulk of these images depict Ventura, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Los Angeles Counties. The Ventura County images concentrate on Port Hueneme. The Orange County images depict Fullerton, Santa Ana, Anaheim, Laguna Beach, Capistrano Beach, Balboa and Newport Beach, and Lido Isle. In Riverside County, the images depict Lake Elsinore, Perris, Corona, the Sherman Institute, Riverside, Norco, Palm Springs, San Jacinto, Hemet, and a number of hot springs. The San Bernardino images depict Twentynine Palms, Fontana, Chino, Ontario, San Bernardino, Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead. In San Diego County, images depict Mount Helix, La Mesa, El Cajon, Alpine, Pine Valley, Descanso, Lakeside, Ramona, Escondido, Vista, Rancho San Luis Rey, Bonsall, Tahiti Beach, Del Mar, Solana Beach, La Jolla, Casa de Manana, and the San Diego Fairgrounds (Balboa Park). Los Angeles County images form the bulk of the second section. Images of the San Gabriel Valley and nearby areas depict Flintridge, Altadena, Monrovia, Glendora, Azusa, East Los Angeles, Montebello, Whittier, the Pio Pico Adobe, Santa Fe Springs, Downey, Norwalk, Bellflower, El Monte, Baldwin Park, Covina, the Pomona Fairgrounds, San Marino, Pasadena, Sierra Madre, Alhambra, El Sereno, San Gabriel, Monterey Park, Arcadia, and Santa Anita. Images of Los Angeles beach communities include Long Beach, San Pedro and Fish Harbor, Palos Verdes and Rancho Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Playa del Rey, Venice, Santa Monica and coastal areas. The collection also depicts West Los Angeles, specifically Westwood and the University of California, Los Angeles, Bel Air, and Brentwood. Central, East and South Los Angeles are represented by images of Hollywood, Los Feliz, Culver City, Leimert Park, Baldwin Hills, Inglewood, View Park, Hawthorne, Westchester, and Gardena. The San Fernando Valley images depict Woodland Hills, Encino, Sherman Oaks, North Hollywood, and Studio City. Also present in the collection are images of specific locations within Los Angeles proper (such as the Los Angeles riverbed, the Farmer's Market and Gilmore Stadium, Olvera Street, Los Angeles theaters, hospitals and businesses, City Hall, the Los Angeles Public Library, the Los Angeles Times Building under construction, Memorial Coliseum and the Olympic pool, and the Pan-Pacific Auditorium). Of particular note are the series of photographs that depict new housing tracts (Midwick View Estates, Rolling Knolls, Rolling Hills Estates, Beverly Wood), Wilshire Boulevard from Westlake to Western Avenues, the business district around La Brea Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard, and the construction of the Federal Building and Post Office in central Los Angeles. The collection also contains images arranged by subject. These include photographs of advertising (signs, billboards and displays); radio and television communications; clubs; people (including Herbert Hoover, J.W. Robinson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Frank Shaw, Archibald Joseph Cronin, and Bing Crosby); transportation (including Los Angeles Railway cars and Union Station); industries (food processing, fruits, water, rubber, steel, quarries, entertainment, and miscellaneous); construction (dams and aqueducts, housing); recreation; circuses; police and fire; cemeteries, charities and relief; religion; photography and photographers; World War II effort; medical; ranches; automobiles; trucks; buses; motorcycles; automobile dealerships and used car lots; racing cars; races; National Auto School; and aviation. Of particular note are the series of photographs depicting tire production by Goodyear; the interior of the Bethlehem Steel Plant; the construction of the Metropolitan aqueduct and Parker Dam; the construction of Boulder (now Hoover) Dam; assembly lines in Ford, Plymouth, Studebaker, and Willys-Knight plants; photographs of Amelia Earhart, Howard Hughes, and other aviators; images of the Douglas Aircraft plant; Timm Aircraft plastic plane construction; and images of Vultee Aircraft plants.

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Panoramic Negatives (3072-3118)

Visual Materials

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Panoramic Negatives (3131-3153)

Visual Materials

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Panoramic negatives

Visual Materials

The Harold A. Parker Studio Collection of Negatives consists of 5157 glass plate negatives, film negatives, and panoramic negatives, 1889-1949, that depict commercial, residential and landscape sites in and around Pasadena and Southern California. The images provide a look at the commercial, residential and social development of Pasadena and surrounding areas during the early years of the twentieth century. The collection is especially rich in images of residential architecture in Pasadena, Altadena, and San Marino; images of Lake Tahoe; depictions of, and activities at, the Raymond, Maryland, and Huntington Hotels in Pasadena; and the commercial, social and cultural landscapes of Pasadena. The collection also provides, through its breadth and depth of subject matter, an example of the career activities of a commercial photographer in Southern California in the early years of the twentieth century.

photCL 402

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C.C. Pierce Negative Collection

Visual Materials

This collection consists of 39 glass negatives, 21 film negatives, and 34 copy prints and original prints related to the Charles C. Pierce family and photography business. This is a miscellaneous group of images depicting various family members and scenes (many unidentified) as well as two views of the interior and exterior of the Pierce business (PI-CO) at 1572 W. Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles, and Pierce's home in Springfield, Massachusetts. Also included are two images of C.C. Pierce posing with the Ybarra family, as well as several images of Hattie Gower Pierce, C.C. Pierce's wife and business partner. Several photographs dating from approximately 1890s-1910s include: people posed outside the "Glenwood Hotel, East Los Angeles, 119 Dailey [or Daly] St., W. of N. Broadway / Mrs. Dan Jones, Prop., Dr. Harry Fasic, Dr. D.K. Carson, Mr. Stiff." Also "Gower residence, 349 E. Edgeware Rd., Los Angeles"; group portrait in front of "Watts Presbyterian Church, Shorb Avenue" [Los Angeles or Alhambra?]; East Los Angeles Congregational Church interior; people in a camp wagon having a picnic; and a bird's-eye-view of a tourist tent village on Catalina Island. Besides Pierce relatives, other names identified are Spangler and Gower family members; Marie Lucile Spangler marrying Gerard Nicholson; Miss Susan Croswell at her 100th birthday party with members of the Wilton, Bryan and Croswell families.

photCL 464

Collection of California and Southern California Panoramic Negatives

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